The Giants and A’s aren’t very good (according to MLB 13: The Show)

Spring Training is a time for optimism. That’s especially true this year in the Bay Area, with the Oakland Athletics coming off a division title and the San Francisco Giants bringing back almost everyone who helped them win their second World Series in three years. Unfortunately, neither team has much chance of making the playoffs … if you play a full season in franchise mode on MLB 13: The Show, that is.

According to The Show’s rankings (provided by Operation Sports, h/t to @gggiants), the Giants and the A’s aren’t just in the middle of the pack. They’re closer to the pathetic depths of Houston than they are to Detroit:

Overall Team Rating

1. Detroit Tigers

2. St. Louis Cardinals

3. Boston Red Sox

4. Los Angeles Angels

5. Toronto Blue Jays

6. Texas Rangers

7. Washington Nationals

8. Atlanta Braves

9. Cincinnati Reds

10. Philadelphia Phillies

11. New York Yankees

12. Los Angeles Dodgers

13. Colorado Rockies

14. Chicago White Sox

15. Arizona Diamondbacks

16. Tampa Bay Rays

17. San Francisco Giants

18. Oakland Athletics

19. Kansas City Royals

20. Milwaukee Brewers

21. Baltimore Orioles

22. Pittsburgh Pirates

23. Seattle Mariners

24. Cleveland Indians

25. San Diego Padres

26. Minnesota Twins

27. Chicago Cubs

28. New York Mets

29. Miami Marlins

30. Houston Astros

Many so-called experts believe the Dodgers are the favorites to win the National League West, and some think the D-Backs could make some noise. But behind the Rockies, who lost 98 games in 2012? Really? As Jacob Sundstrom said, apparently there’s “no humidor in that game.”

In video game land, the A’s are a spot higher in than the Giants in their division, as they have more pixelated talent than the Mariners and Astros (who are predicted by almost everyone to lose somewhere between 100 and 155 games this season). Like the Giants, Oakland is ranked below five teams that finished .500 or worse in 2012.

While video game rankings are interesting — there are several articles devoted to the weekly score increases/decreases on Madden during every NFL season — they don’t take into account real world variables like Bernie Leans and Hunter Pence speeches. To get a better idea of how The Show came up with these totally BIASED rankings, here’s how the teams score in different phases of the game:

Team Batting

1. Detroit Tigers

2. Los Angeles Angels

3. Colorado Rockies

4. Boston Red Sox

5. Texas Rangers

6. Toronto Blue Jays

7. Cincinnati Reds

8. St. Louis Cardinals

9. Washington Nationals

10. Los Angeles Dodgers

11. New York Yankees

12. Atlanta Braves

13. Philadelphia Phillies

14. Milwaukee Brewers

15. Baltimore Orioles

16. Arizona Diamondbacks

17. Chicago White Sox

18. Kansas City Royals

19. Oakland Athletics

20. Pittsburgh Pirates

21. Cleveland Indians

22. San Francisco Giants

23. Seattle Mariners

24. Tampa Bay Rays

25. Miami Marlins

26. New York Mets

27. San Diego Padres

28. Minnesota Twins

29. Chicago Cubs

30. Houston Astros

Team Pitching

1. Philadelphia Phillies

2. Washington Nationals

3. Atlanta Braves

4. St. Louis Cardinals

5. Tampa Bay Rays

6. New York Yankees

7. Toronto Blue Jays

8. Los Angeles Dodgers

9. San Francisco Giants

10. Boston Red Sox

11. Cincinnati Reds

12. Texas Rangers

13. Detroit Tigers

14. Los Angeles Angels

15. Arizona Diamondbacks

16. Oakland Athletics

17. Chicago White Sox

18. Kansas City Royals

19. San Diego Padres

20. Seattle Mariners

21. Cleveland Indians

22. Pittsburgh Pirates

23. Colorado Rockies

24. Milwaukee Brewers

25. Baltimore Orioles

26. Chicago Cubs

27. Minnesota Twins

28. New York Mets

29. Houston Astros

30. Miami Marlins

Team Defense

1. New York Yankees

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

3. Los Angeles Angels

4. Tampa Bay Rays

5. Cincinnati Reds

6. Philadelphia Phillies

7. Atlanta Braves

8. Chicago Cubs

9. Baltimore Orioles

10. San Francisco Giants

11. Texas Rangers

12. Washington Nationals

13. Colorado Rockies

14. St. Louis Cardinals

15. Boston Red Sox

16. Kansas City Royals

17. Arizona Diamondbacks

18. San Diego Padres

19. Detroit Tigers

20. Houston Astros

21. Pittsburgh Pirates

22. Cleveland Indians

23. Seattle Mariners

24. Oakland Athletics

25. Miami Marlins

26. Toronto Blue Jays

27. Minnesota Twins

28. Milwaukee Brewers

29. Chicago White Sox

30. New York Mets

Huh. As much as I’d like to, it’s hard to quibble with those rankings. Sure, the Giants could be a better offensive team in 2013 with a full (hopefully better) season from Pence, a healthy Pablo Sandoval and incremental improvements from youngsters like Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford. However, San Francisco also hit the fewest home runs in the Majors last year. The A’s pitched extremely well last season, but they lost Brandon McCarthy and there’s a chance their young rotation could take a step back.

Brian Sabean often mentions how the Giants are set up to succeed in their pitching-rich division, where the teams seem to play a ton of 1- and 2-run games. However, that doesn’t really matter when two gamers are battling each other on a Playstation 3.

Individually, 17 players were given a rating of 99 on MLB 13 (44 players were rated at 99 last year). The only member of the Giants or A’s who had the game’s highest possible score is Buster Posey. The Angels have three: Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout.

Last season, MLB 12: The Show highlights were often shown on the AT&T Park videoboard as individual Giants were announced (including a terrible facial rendition of Nate Schierholtz, if I remember correctly). With these rankings creating super-important bulletin board material that Bruce Bochy and Bob Melvin will surely use to motivate their respective teams, we might see players shaking angry fists at giant HDTVs if either the Giants or A’s repeat that practice in 2013.

About the Author

BASG (Steve Berman) and his wife started Bay Area Sports Guy in 2008, and now it's the No. 1 independent website covering Bay Area sports. You can follow him @BASportsGuy and on Facebook.

How is Boston rated #3? They barely reached 70 wins last year. They play in the toughest division in baseball with the Orioles & Yankees making the playoffs and a very dangerous Toronto team.
I guess that leads to the question…how were the Giants & A’s rated in the MLB12 version?

Wow, really? Giants pitching rated worse than Dodgers? I mean sure, Kershaw is a monster, but who after that?
Maybe the game designers just pulled numbers from places like ESPN's stats page or something.

ABOUT BAY AREA SPORTS GUY

Giants, 49ers, Warriors, Raiders, Athletics, Sharks, Stanford or Cal – BASG has it covered. Bay Area Sports Guy is the sports guy for all sports guys (and girls), writing about Bay Area sports and the local sports media since 2008. BASG is the largest independent blog covering Bay Area sports, and took People’s Choice in CBS San Francisco’s "Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011."